ISM – The National Curriculum for MusicA revised framework for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in key stage 3 music

Professor Martin Fautley (Birmingham City University) Dr Alison Daubney (University of Sussex)

The ISM isSupported by

ismtrust.orgism.org

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ISM KS3 assessment

ISM – The National Curriculum for Music: A revised framework for curriculum, pedagogy and assessment in key stage 3 music

© Incorporated Society of Musicians, Dr Alison Daubney and Professor Martin Fautley, 2019

Incorporated Society of Musicians 4–5 Inverness Mews, London W2 3JQ

T: 020 7221 3499

E: membership@ism.org enquiries@ismtrust.org

W: ism.org / ismtrust.org

@ISMusicians / @ismtrust

@ISM_music / @ISM_Trust

Introduction

Music is fundamentally important throughout the curriculum for all children and young people in all schools and academies.

However, its place is becoming increasingly at risk in a growing number of schools, regardless of type, organisation, or governance. This is not only sad, it is wrong; our political leaders have repeatedly stressed the importance of the place of music, as the statements on this page demonstrate.

Nick Gibb, Minister for Schools

…about a third of secondary schools are reducing Key Stage 3 from three years as it should be, to two years…this is not the right approach because we want young people to be taking music and art…which are compulsory in the national curriculum up to the age of 14. (2018)

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector

…there was a dearth of understanding about the curriculum in some schools…We saw curriculum narrowing, especially in upper key stage 2, with lessons disproportionately focused on English and mathematics…Some secondary schools were significantly shortening key stage 3 in order to start GCSEs. This approach results in the range of subjects that pupils study narrowing at an early stage and means that they might drop art, history or music, for instance, at age 12 or 13. (2018)

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted chief inspector

... there is and will be no ‘Ofsted curriculum’. What we will be interested in is the coherence, the sequencing and construction, the implementation of the curriculum, how it is being taught and how well children and young people are progressing in it. So please, don’t leap for quick fixes or superficial solutions just to please Ofsted. That would be the wrong response. From September, we’ll be just as interested in where you are going and how you intend to get there, not just whether you’ve arrived there yet. (2018)

Susan Aykin, Ofsted National Lead for Visual and Performing Arts

A school that has all of its eggs in English and Maths would be unlikely to get an outstanding judgment because the wider curriculum is very important… It would be difficult to be judged as an outstanding school if you did not pay heed to the importance of the arts in your curriculum. (2018)

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ISM KS3 assessmentSection 1:

An overview of musical learning at KS3

Music is both a practical and academic subject. Musical learning is about thinking and acting musically. This means that music lessons should be about learning in and through music, not solely about music. Music lessons in school should be focussed on developing imagination and creativity, building up pupils’ knowledge, skills and understanding. Young people come into secondary school with a lifetime of musical experiences, which are practical and experiential, and which have contributed to their aural memory, practical, discriminatory skills, and personal and collective identity formation. Their music lessons in secondary school, therefore, should not assume that they know nothing and have no prior musical experience. There is a need for secondary school music teachers to get to know their incoming pupils as individuals, and this is probably best achieved through practical engagement with music itself through a wide variety of musical endeavours. As a secondary school teacher, you will be aware that whilst in primary school, many children will have experienced whole class ensemble tuition (also known as First Access or Wider Opportunities).

We are living in times of change, and this is certainly true of music education. Changing modalities of music teaching and learning in primary schools, informal learning situations, and learning elsewhere, mean that pupils are coming to secondary schools with a broad range of experiences, skills, understanding, and, importantly, interests. This means that your music curriculum is unlikely to remain static for long periods of time, but needs to respond to the changing nature of music in school, your community and wider society. Part of your role as a secondary school music teacher includes needing to ensure that musical learning is both relevant to the pupils in your school, and builds on what they have done previously. Wherever possible, your curriculum should encompass and build on pupils’ musical learning from beyond the classroom. It is highly likely that your curriculum will look and sound very different from that of another school, maybe even those nearby.

The essence of the music curriculum as it appears in the current National Curriculum framework is an excellent basis for the teaching and learning of music in all schools. Composing, Performing, and Listening are all key aspects of musical knowledge, skills, and understanding, and the emphasis placed on these needs to remain strong in all our classrooms.

We hear on a daily basis that teachers and schools are facing issues regarding curriculum and assessment in music. This revised document is constructed upon sound research-based principles and evidence into effective teaching, learning, and assessment. It provides a framework that is designed to help you, your department, and your SLT, think about what you want from music education. It helps you address matters of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, bringing together theory and practice within your own setting.

We hope that you find it useful, and that there are ideas, provocations, and suggestions here that you can take and adapt to suit your own circumstances, and that it will prove helpful for you providing a strong music curriculum and musical activities in and beyond your school.

A strong musical presence in school classrooms creates a living musical culture in those schools. Music lessons and musical activities delivered on a regular and sustained basis by classroom teachers is the backbone of this work, and must continue to be so. These teachers know their children and young people, design and deliver learning programmes and activities specifically tailored to the wants and needs of their school communities, work with children and young people day-in-day-out, in order to sustain an inspiring music education throughout the years that those youngsters will be learning with them.

At KS3, music teachers are the architects of their own curriculum. Responsibility for what goes into it lies entirely with the decisions made by schools. This gives opportunities for your curriculum to be exciting, inspiring, and moulded by what is right for your children and young people, in your school. A strong, sustained and sustainable music curriculum should lead seamlessly to inclusive extra and extended curricula music making, which will be central to the life of the dynamic music department and school community.

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ISM KS3 assessmentSection 3:

Questions to ask yourself

This section provides a structure for you to think through your current curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment, and reflect upon how your values and aspirations for music education are currently planned for and enacted. It takes the form of a series of questions. You can work through these by yourself, or with a group of colleagues within your school, music hub, locality, federation, or academy chain. As an outcome of undergoing this reflective process of addressing the questions, you should be in a strong position to be able to further develop and promote music education in your school, and the ways in which it is taught, conceptualised, delivered, and assessed musically.

The questions which follow are intended to help develop and promote music education in your school, and the ways in which it is taught, conceptualised, delivered, and assessed musically. They are designed so that a ‘big’ question, which encapsulates a broad area of interest, often a difficult conceptual area, is followed by a series of small questions, designed to help you address the big issue.

ValuesBig Question 1: What do you valuein music education?

Can you make a list of the things that you value in music education? For example, a group of teachers listed these, are they on your list? What else is on your list?• creativity• enjoyment• active learning• inclusion• skills• opportunities to make music together• singing• expressing thoughts and feelingsPlease note: your list might look very different from this!

Big Question 2: How does what you valueappear in your KS3 curriculum?

– What is included in your KS3 curriculum? – Is it topic based? Or something else? – What order are the topics (or whatever you

have) in? – Why are they in this order?– Does each topic (whatever you use) have

its own learning outcomes? – Does each term/year/KS have its own

learning outcomes?

Big Question 3: How do the values thatyou listed in answer to Big Question 1figure in your answers to Big Question 2and its sub-questions?

– Which of the things you value areexclusive to music?

– Which of the things you value are supporting wider transferable personal, spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development?

Big Question 4: How do the pedagogiesyou employ at KS3 support your values?

– What pedagogies do you employ? (eg group work; whole class performing; singing; workshopping; Musical Futures).

– Do you use different pedagogies fordifferent topics?

Big Question 5: Do you assess what youvalue? If so – how, and why?

– Revisiting the lists you made in answer to Big Questions 1-3, are the things you say you value evidenced in your assessments?

– If so – how are they evidenced? – Are any missing, or under-represented?Big Question 5 Rephrased: Do you value what you assess? Or do you assess what you value? Or is it a combination of both?

Section 2:

Planning for musical learning, assessment, and progression

Assessment of musical learning should be rooted in the reality of musical activity that the young people undertake. Consequently, assessment should be of the musical attainment they have evidenced in a range of learning activities in which they have been singing, playing, performing, improvising, composing, and critically engaging with music. Progress is made over time, and evidence from ongoing musical assessments should be used to show this.Musicality should be the centre of attention. There should be ongoing opportunities through practical music-making, listening to young people talking and playing, and watching them responding, to be able to form assessment judgements which are appropriate to the work they have done, and can be used to inform the next stage of their musical journey. Such assessments can be used over time to build up a portfolio of assessment data which demonstrates progression. As this is music, assessment data should include audio and/or video, although we are mindful of issues regarding GDPR, and safeguarding and child protection.

However, we know many schools have managed to successfully address these matters so that effective assessment remains genuinely musical and worthwhile. This means recordings of work built up over time. These should include work in progress, so that pupils can learn from them and develop work over time, not just be recording of final performances for archive purposes which are never played back. It is likely that many of these recordings will be of groups and whole classes rather than individuals, as appropriate to normal KS3 music teaching.

Given ongoing changes across the curriculum, and Ofsted’s interest, now is a prime time to revisit planning for learning and assessment in music.

Damian Hinds “Frequent data drops and excessive monitoring a child’s progress are not required either by Ofsted or by the DfE”.(2018)

In a joint letter to schools, the DfE and Ofsted suggest:

“…reviewing and reducing the number of attainment data collection points a year and how these are used – as a rule, it should not be more than two or three a year.” (2018)

In some schools, GCSE assessment criterion statements for music have had to be re-written by music staff for use from Year 7 onwards. We have also heard of cases where these have had to be artificially subdivided into three divisions. This is problematic for music. The KS3 curriculum is designed to lead into KS4 and GCSE, but this does not mean that the GCSE assessment system will work backwards into Y7. Our understanding is that assessment at KS3 should be based on actual work done by pupils. The use of GCSE grades (subdivided or not) to simply to ‘prove’ linear progression, is of little help, and often hinders effective musical learning and progression.

In this document, we recommend that pupils should be assessed using suitable musical criteria, based on the work they are actually doing at the time.

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ISM KS3 assessmentSection 3 continued:

Purposes of KS3 Big Question 6: What are the purposes of KS3 music education in your school?

– Is KS3 for everybody?– Is KS3 preparation for GCSE or other

options at KS4 and beyond?– Does KS3 promote positive musical

identities for all pupils?– Whose music figures in your KS3

curriculum? Why?– Are there spaces for pupil voice and/or

pupil choice?– Is it designed to feed extra-curricular

music activities? If so, are these available and desirable to all pupils?

– What is the place and role of western classical music?

– What is the place and role of contemporary classical music?

– What is the place and role of pop, rock, musical theatre, and jazz?

– What is the place and role of folk and traditional music?

– What is the place and role of world music?– What is the place and role of the pupils’

indigenous cultural music?– What is the place and role of local

community cultural musics?– Are there connections between the ways in

which you ‘package’ your KS3 curriculum (see Big Q2), and your answers to Big Qs 3-5?

– If so, are the connections you noted in Big Q2 made explicit in your curriculum documentation?

Ownership of curriculum, pedagogies, and assessment Big Question 7: Who makes the decisions on curriculum in your school?

– Who do you have to justify your curricula choices to? (eg “why are we doing this?” [pupils]; “why are you doing this?” [SLT]).

– What do you publish about your curriculum on the school website?

– What do you publish about your curriculum in the school prospectus?

– Do you know if any of the topics you teach are also covered anywhere else in the KS3 curriculum? (eg blues-geography; sound-science)

– Do you know if any of the skills and/or knowledge you teach are also covered anywhere else in the KS3 curriculum? (eg group-work and social; analytical; listening; cooperative; literacy; numeracy; oracy; creating skills).

– Does your curriculum support, challenge, and encourage pupils to bring in their musical skills and enthusiasm from beyond the classroom? If so, how, and when?

Big Question 8: To whom do you have to justify your pedagogies? (why did you choose to teach it [whatever ‘it’ is] in this way?)

– Have you considered different pedagogies for teaching what you teach already?

– Do you have to modify what and how you would like to teach because of school circumstances or expectations? (eg have to write learning outcomes on board/in books at start of lesson; have to write down targets every lesson at end; have to give pupils eg tick time [ticking off learning outcomes and/or targets], or DIRT [Dedicated Improvement Reflection Time] time at a fixed point (or points) during lesson; exams in the hall next door; having to take a register within first 5 minutes).

– Are your pedagogies inclusive, do they provide a realistic and suitable level of challenge for all pupils? (How do you differentiate your pedagogies for eg pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), higher achieving pupils, pupils with greater levels of musical experience (eg ABRSM or Trinity College grades, or those who play instruments?), or those in receipt of the pupil premium.

– Do your pedagogies support, challenge, and encourage pupils to bring in their musical skills and enthusiasm from beyond the classroom? If so, how, and when? (Big Q6).

Big Question 9: Who makes the decisions about how, when, and why pupils are assessed?

– What are the purposes of your assessments? – Do you assess holistically?

Or atomistically? (why?)– Do you think your assessments support

musical learning?– Who is the assessment for? (pupils;

teachers; systems; parents).– (How) are pupils involved in assessment?– Are you and your school systems

separating assessment of attainment from assessment of progress?

– Who owns the decisions made about processes assessment? (eg commercial systems; whole-school policies; academy chains).

– Do you have to modify what and how you would like to assess because of school circumstances or expectations? (eg having an assessment lesson; only using evidence from assessment lesson for grading)

– Is there target setting for KS3 music?– If there is target setting for KS3 music,

what is it based upon? (eg only maths and English scores at KS2; Fischer Family Trust (FFT) predictions; Cognitive Ability Test (CAT) scores; predicted GCSE grades).

– Who decides?– What does ‘tracking’ mean in your

context?

Big Question 10: Do you know who owns your assessment data? (you; pupils; assessment manager; School Information Management System (SIMS))

– Are you/your pupils creating a portfolio of ‘a well-ordered catalogue of recordings over time, supported by commentaries and scores’ (Ofsted 2011).

– (How) do your pupils use such recordings over time?

– (How) do you record formative comments? (How) do you share these with pupils?

– How do you record grades, marks, scores? (How) do you share these with pupils?

– What would be your preferred method of assessment data recording to make it musically meaningful? How distant is this from your current practice?

Big Question 11: What form does reporting take in your context?

– How often do you have to report to: a. systems/SLT b. pupils c. other staff d. parents e. governors

– What do you have to report on? (eg grades; attainment, effort; social, moral, spiritual, and cultural (SMSC); test scores).

– (How) do these relate to predefined targets set by you, the school, or statistical packages?

– What happens if these don’t tally?– Are you ‘allowed’ to report on actual

attainment? (ie can a grade be lower than its predecessor?)

– Does your school use ‘free text’ or report-bank statements for reporting?

– Is there a role for formative feedback in your school’s reporting system? If so, what is it?

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ISM KS3 assessmentSection 4:

Planning for musical learning

What does planning entail? Musical learning for KS3 entails a programme of study which takes place over a long period of time, normally over three years, but in some schools over two. Planning for musical learning should begin with an understanding of where the pupils are in their learning journeys at the start of KS3. Some teachers begin KS3 with a unit which elicits this information for them through a range of practical music making activities. Following this, many teachers plan a ‘grand overview’ of their developmental learning curriculum. This is what is normally referred to as long-term planning. Medium-term planning takes the form of units of work, and short-term planning individual lessons within this. Good planning for musical learning enables pupils to utilise and develop their musical experiences from both within and, importantly, beyond the classroom.

A planning and assessment spiralMusical learning at KS3 is often built around six main strands, which are interrelated and overlapping. These are:• singing• composing• improvising• playing • critical engagement,• social, moral, spiritual, and cultural

(SMSC)Singing, composing, improvising, and playing should be self-explanatory. The notion of critical engagement as we are using it encompasses listening, appraising, evaluating, describing, identifying, aural perception and many other aspects of musical learning. Whilst in this framework critical engagement is assessed separately, in practice it can be seen to permeate throughout all aspects of musicking. In a similar vein, SMSC can also be considered as running throughout musical learning like an idée fixe.

The idea of a spiral curriculum is well established both generally, and in music education in particular (Bruner, 1960; Bruner, 1975; Thomas, 1970; Swanwick & Tillman, 1986; Charanga, 2015). We are presenting the six strands of musical learning at KS3 in the form of a spiral. This is important, as the notion of progression using a spiral means that pupils can go back and forth, up and down, in three dimensions, and over time. Often as learners encounter a new situation

their apparent attainment can be perceived as dipping, but by invoking the notion of a spiral this does not mean that their actual attainment has worsened, merely that in the specific instance in question the pupils have shifted location on the spiral.

Figure 1: A Planning and Assessment Spiral

Section 5:

Framework for curriculum, assessment, and progression

About the framework This assessment and progression framework is in two parts. Part A is a planning framework designed to help you think through your curriculum, learning, assessment, and pedagogy. It is designed to help you plan and assess musical learning in your classroom. It can be used in a number of ways: for individual lessons, for medium-term planning, and for long-term planning. This has been done purposefully in order to ensure that you consider how and why your curriculum is relevant and developmental.

Part B consists of a series of exemplar assessment criteria statements. These statements have been designed to be applicable at a range of stages of developmental musical learning throughout KS3. Some are clearly intended to be challenging to pupils at different points during their musical journey. These statements are meant to be examples only, but they are intended to help you differentiate learning for pupils with a range of differing musical experiences.

How do you use it? The boxes on the left-hand side of part A of the framework, singing, playing (etc.), are the curricular components of musical learning. They are presented individually here in order to help you ensure that they are both included in your planning, and assessed. However, it is vital to note that musical learning happens in an holistic fashion, and that units of work and their assessment should not be atomistically separated. Teachers should be mindful of this through all planning, delivery, and assessment. However, by showing them in this fashion, teachers can use the framework to check and assess over time, as some units of work will focus on different aspects of musical learning, but they should all be present (albeit to a greater or lesser extent) throughout the music curriculum. The framework also artificially separates skills, knowledge, and understanding.

Again, this is intended to be of use to you during the thinking processes which occur throughout planning for learning, teaching, and assessment. At all stages during the planning and teaching processes, you need to be aware of the differentiated skills, knowledge, and understanding you are seeking to develop, so the framework asks you to delineate these separately. What this means is that planning for learning must precede deciding upon which curricula material (e.g. activities or repertoire) will be used.

The model is flexible, and the last box in the columns can be used for you to add any other aspects which are appropriate for your context. The assessment criteria boxes you develop for your own context should link back to the skills, knowledge, and understanding you have defined in the earlier stages of the framework.

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

COMPOSING

COMPOSING

COMPOSING

SMSC

SMSC

SMSC

SINGING

SINGING

IMPROVISING

IMPROVISING

PLAYING

PLAYING

INCR

EASI

NG

CHAL

LEN

GE

The six strands shown in the spiral form the basis of the assessment and progression framework, showing the ways that pupils are being musical.

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ISM KS3 assessment

How does what you value appear in your KS3 curriculum? How does what you value appear in your assessment?

What are your range of pedagogies for:

Being musical through:

WHAT

Singing

Critical Engagement

Playing

SMSC

Improvising

What would you put in this box?

(Do you need more boxes?)

Composing

Desired skills

WHAT

What are the singing skills

you aim to develop?

What aspects

of SMSC doyou aim

to develop?

What are the playing skills

you aim to

develop?

What skills are

you seekingto develop?

What is the improvising you aim to develop?

What is the composing

youaim to

develop?

What are the critical

engagement skills you aimto develop?

HOW

Developing singing skills?

Developing SMSC skills?

Developing playing skills?

Developing skills?

Developing improvising

skills?

Developing composing

skills?

Developing critical

engagement skills?

Curricula materials

Desired knowledge andunderstanding

WHAT

What is the knowledge and understanding of

singing you are seeking to develop?

What is the knowledge and understanding

involving SMSC you are seeking to develop?

What is the knowledge and understanding of playing you are

seeking to develop?

Developing knowledge andunderstanding?

What is the knowledge and understanding ofimprovising you areseeking to develop?

What is the knowledge and understanding of

composing you areseeking to develop?

What is the knowledge and understanding

involving critical engagement you are seeking to develop?

Approaches to developing

knowledge andunderstanding

HOW

How will this knowledge and

understanding ofsinging be developed?

How will this knowledge and understandinginvolving SMSC be developed?

How will this knowledge and

understanding ofplaying be developed?

How will this knowledge and understanding be developed?

How will this knowledge and understanding of improvising be developed?

How will this knowledge and

understanding ofcomposing be developed?

How will this knowledge and understanding

involving criticalengagement be

developed?

What is it that you value in m

usic education?

WHY

Why have you chosen these skills?

WHY

Why have you chosen these pedagogies?

Why have you chosen this range of know

ledge and understanding?

WHY WHAT

What stim

uli will be used, and w

hat developmental m

aterials will your pupils explore?

WHY

Why these units of w

ork? Why in this order? W

hy these materials?

HOW, WHEN, WHY HOW, WHEN, WHY

Assessment Criteria

WHAT

What are the assessmentcriteria you are using

for singing?

What are the assessment criteria you are using for SMSC?

What are the assessmentcriteria you are using

for playing?

What are the assessment criteria you are using?

What are the assessmentcriteria you

are using forimprovising?

What are the assessment

criteria for you are using

for composing?

What are the assessmentcriteria you

are using forlistening?

How, w

hen, and why are you using these in a form

ative developmental fashion?

How, w

hen, and why do you use these in a sum

mative fashion?

Assessed through communicating in and through music, evidenced through...

How are you using these in a formative developmental fashion?

How, when, and why do you use these in a summative fashion?

Comm

unicating in and through music

Creating and making

Exploring

Notating

Oracy and literacy

How is w

hat you value in music education em

bodied through the curriculum,

pedagogies and assessment?

Section 5 continued:

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ISM KS3 assessment

1. Sings more-or-less in tune, following contours of song

2. Sings in tune with musical expression

3. Sings with accuracy and stylistic integrity

4. Sings with fluency

5. Is able to hold a melody line

6. Is able to hold a harmony line in a big group

7. Is able to hold a harmony line in a small group

8. Uses own voice as instrument appropriate to the musical context

1. Composes a functional piece of music which meets demands of the brief

2. Composes an effective piece of music which responds to the brief using appropriate imaginative ideas

3. Composes an effective piece which uses appropriate harmonic and rhythmic devices

4. Composes a piece of music which has a clear sense of style, structure, and purpose

5. Composes using a limited range of musical ideas which involve given materials

6. Demonstrates an understanding of the principles of composing as appropriate to starting point

7. Composes an idiomatic response to a given or chosen stimulus

8. Has ideas, and is able to realise them in sound

9. Offers a creative response to a given or chosen brief

1. Is able to hold own part in solo performance

2. Is able to hold own part in ensemble performance

3. Can follow performance directions in the moment

4. Performs fluently

5. Shows evidence of developing fluency

6. Creates a convincing performance

7. Performs a simple part showing awareness of musicality

8. Performs an appropriately challenging part showing awareness of musicality

1. Improvises basic musical responses

2. Improvises using a limited range of given options

3. Improvises simple responses which mostly echo source materials

4. Improvises appropriately and musically with stylistic integrity

5. Improvises effectively demonstrating awareness of mood and intended effect

1. Refines own music after suitable reflection

2. Makes spontaneous adaptations to own contribution

3. Is able to re-join performance after rests (or minor lapses)

4. Can suggest appropriate refinements to practical music

5. Able to justify choices and responses to music

6. Communicates effectively with an audience

7. Is open to different musical styles, genres, traditions, cultures, and times

8. Communicates own work to audience in appropriate fashion

9. Discusses and critiques own music appropriately

10. Discusses and critiques the music of others appropriately

11. Responds to the music of others in an appropriate fashion

12. Demonstrates creative responses to musical starting points

1. Awareness of how own contribution (part) fits with those of other people

2. Willingness to participate in corporate music making activity

3. Enjoys singing

4. Engages in purposeful rehearsal techniques

5. Doesn’t give up on musical ideas too soon

6. Resilient to setbacks in musical processes

7. Is prepared to take creative risks in music making

8. Deals with performance anxiety in an appropriate fashion

9. Shows evidence of emerging personal musical identity

10. Shows evidence of emerging collective musical identity

11. Shows awareness that affective responses differ between individuals

12. Encourages others to articulate views on their own affective responses

Section 6:

Sample assessment statements

Here is a list of sample assessment statements which can be used, developed, and adapted for your own units of work. It is important to note that this is not an exhaustive list, merely examples of ways of constructing assessment criteria for pupils at different points on their musical journeys. The criteria show examples from each of the six strands of musical learning from the spiral.

SINGING

PLAYING

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

SMSC

COMPOSING

IMPROVISING

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ISM KS3 assessmentSection 7:

Grading

It is suggested that a three-point scale is used to grade outcomes. What this means is that the assessment criteria statements need to be measurable. This means that the most straightforward way of writing each assessment criterion is to produce one statement in which the outcomes are clearly differentiated by attainment level, not by writing three separate outcome statements. For example, from the exemplar criterion statements, the assessment criterion:

can be graded using a three point scale, which could be written as:

For each topic/project/unit of work/learning section, you could construct a series of, for example, four or five criterion statements which are relevant to that topic only. Assessment is then specific to the intended learning for this unit.

Improvises simple responses which mostly echo source materials

1 is not yet able to… [working towards]2 is able to… [working at]3 is confidently able to...

[working beyond]

Section 8:

Assessment examples

Having done your long-term overview of musical learning, your units of work will appear in the order in which you have chosen to develop the musical skills, knowledge, and understanding that you wish to promote in your context. This means that if you move a unit to a different place, you will need to rethink the developmental sequence of learning. In order to illustrate possible assessment use within medium-term planning, here are two examples of how a unit of work (UoW) on film music might appear at the early stages of KS3, and towards the end.

We are not advocating that the same unit is taught twice (although it could be), but that the intended learning and assessment opportunities are different at each point.

Example 1: Early in KS3Learning Outcomes: In this Unit of Work (UoW), pupils will learn:Singing: To sing confidently with new classmates a song which they are likely to know from the specified film for this unit.Composing: To compose short leitmotifs for the main characters.Improvising: To improvise in groups a musical response to specified action sequence.Playing: To perform as a class the main theme tune.

Critical Engagement: That music can be used to create and enhance a range of atmospheres and moods that accompany visual images. SMSC: Participation in musical activity needs to be coordinated so individuals function effectively as part of a wider endeavour. That effective collaboration requires individuals to work in teams, and that rehearsal time is used wisely.

Not yet able to Able to Exceeds

SINGINGIs able to hold a melody line

Is able to hold a harmony line in a big group

COMPOSINGHas ideas, and is able to realise them in sound

Offers a creative response to a given or chosen brief

IMPROVISING

Improvises simple responses which mostly echo source materials

Improvises effectively demonstrating awareness of mood and intended effect

PLAYINGIs able to hold own part in ensemble performance

Can follow performance directions in the moment

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

Able to justify choices and responses to music

Refines own music after suitable reflection

SMSCAwareness of how own contribution (part) fits with those of other people

Engages in purposeful rehearsal techniques

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ISM KS3 assessmentSection 8 continued:

Example 2: Late in KS3In this Unit of Work (UoW), pupils will learn:

Singing: Not a main focus for this unit, but may be used in pupil composing, although the quality of the singing should not be used to judge the quality of the composing.

Composing: To compose an extended piece of music that creates atmosphere for a specified film clip.

Improvising: Not a main focus for this, but will be used to generate a range of ideas which will be developed during composing.

Playing: The resultant composition will be played, or realised using music technology, or a combination of both. However, the quality of the performance or realisation should not be used to judge the quality of the composing.

Critical Engagement: How to be aware of the processes they undertake when composing and performing, and adapt their work over time as a result of informed feedback through formative, developmental assessment.

SMSC: That thoughts and feelings can be individual and personal in response to music, and that although these may differ, giving informed justifications for personal responses is a valid outcome of this work.

Not yet able to Able to Exceeds

SINGING Criteria can be chosen if necessary

COMPOSING

Composes a piece of music which has a clear sense of style, structure, and purpose

Composes an idiomatic response to a given or chosen stimulus

IMPROVISING Criteria can be chosen if necessary

PLAYINGPerforms fluently

Creates a convincing performance

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT

Refines own music after suitable reflection

Able to justify choices and responses to music

SMSC Shows awareness that affective responses differ between individuals

Section 9:

Assessment guidance

For each assessment focus used (eg composing) there are two criterion statements (eg has ideas, and is able to realise them in sound).This recognises that pupils’ musical development will be at different stages, and therefore provides differentiated opportunities for all pupils to be able to meet expectations, and have a personal sense of achievement as a result. You may wish to have more than two criterion statements, depending upon your specific context. This is fine, but be aware of manageability!

Is some schools ‘assessment lessons’ are used to provide data-collection. It is important to note that for assessment to be used in a truly formative fashion, it is normally more appropriate to gather and record evidence of pupil attainment ‘on the hoof’ as the normal lesson progresses, rather than save it all up for the end. All the teacher then needs to do is mark when they notice this taking place. As we have discussed earlier, musical evidence may be captured by a variety of means including

audio or video recordings both during the process formatively, and at the end point. It also means that formative and summative purposes of assessment are contained within the framework. This also means that working in this way both gives a much better impression of individual pupil attainment, and allows for suitable targeted developmental feedback. We know that many of our young people do not perform at their optimum level under pressure, and whilst in some circumstances we do want them to rise to the occasion, assessment should provide useful formative data to both teacher and learners, as well as high-stakes summative when appropriate; as assessment lesson therefore may not always be the best means to this end. After all, as Swanwick (1988 p.149) says, ‘to teach is to assess’.

ISM KS3 assessment

18 19

ISM KS3 assessmentSection 10:

Progression

In this framework we have referred to assessment with relation to attainment. Many schools and teachers are also concerned with progression. We see progression as the cumulation of attainments over time, evidenced through musical endeavour, as delineated by the framework statements used in your planning documentation.The exemplar assessment learning criteria statements have been organised using the six categories of the spiral. We have seen that within each of these categories there are a range of outcome statements intended for different stages of the musical journey.

In order to show progress over time, each of the 3-point scale grades can be given a numerical score from 1 to 3. For example, here is the chart for a pupil in Y7, showing their scores for the film music unit discussed above.

Not yet able to Able to Exceeds

SINGING Is able to hold a melody line 1

COMPOSING Has ideas, and is able to realise them in sound 2

IMPROVISING Improvises effectively demonstrating awareness of mood and intended effect 3

PLAYING Is able to hold own part in ensemble performance 2

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT Able to justify choices and responses to music 3

SMSC Engages in purposeful rehearsal techniques 2

These scores can be shown diagrammatically using a radar-chart, simply produced using a widely available computer spreadsheet programme. Doing so produces the result shown in figure 2:

Singing3

0

1

2

Playing

ComposingSMSC

ImprovisingCrirical Engagement

The next unit that this pupil undertakes is on music for computer games. Their scores for this are:

Music for computer games

SINGING 2

COMPOSING 3

IMPROVISING 2

PLAYING 2

CRITICAL ENGAGEMENT 2

SMSC 2

Progression can be shown in various ways, for example by plotting the scores for the computer game unit alongside those of the film music unit, which would result in figure 3:

Singing3

0

1

2

Playing

ComposingSMSC

ImprovisingCrirical Engagement

Film music unit

Music for computer games

Progression can also be shown by adding the scores of the units, to show the cumulative total. This would give the results shown in figure 4:

This can then be compared with earlier such totals, for example figure 2, to readily demonstrate progress over time.

Most music departments have some ownership over the content of their KS3 curriculum. This is also true of the construction of assessment criteria. Within each unit you may want to have differing

criteria statements to provide an appropriate level of challenge for the full range of pupils in your classes. It is important to note that these assessment procedures are intended to support the evidence for musical learning, they are not meant to replace it. Evidence for musical attainment and progression should itself be musical, it should normally include audio/video evidence over time.

Singing5

0

1

2

3

4

Playing

ComposingSMSC

ImprovisingCrirical Engagement

ISM KS3 assessment

20

ISM The National Curriculum for Music

Martin Fautley Professor Martin Fautley is Director of Research in the School of Education and Social Work at Birmingham City University. He has a wealth of experience in music education, both in terms of pedagogy, and of music education research and evaluation projects. For many years he was a secondary school music teacher, subsequently undertaking Doctoral research working in the education and music faculties at the University of Cambridge, investigating the teaching, learning and assessment of classroom music making. He is widely known for his work in researching assessment and is the author of ten books, including Assessment in Music Education published by Oxford University Press. He has written and published numerous journal articles, book chapters and academic research papers on a range of aspects of teaching and learning. He is Co-editor of the British Journal of Music Education.

Dr Alison Daubney Dr Alison Daubney has a portfolio career. Having worked as an instrumental and then classroom music teacher, Alison became involved in teacher education and is currently working part time at the University of Sussex. She completed a PhD at the University of Surrey, exploring how composing is taught in Key Stage 3. Alison has worked extensively in the UK and abroad with University of Cambridge International Examinations on overseas curriculum and assessment development, training and action research. She is on the steering group of her local music education hub, SoundCity:Brighton and Hove. She works with schools, music education hubs, music services and arts organisations, implementing and advising them on training, education, research and evaluation. Alison has published many materials for music educators. Her book Teaching Primary Music was published by SAGE in 2017. In 2018, the ISM Trust published her and Gregory Daubney’s (CPsychol, MSc) ground-breaking book Play: A psychological toolkit for optimal music performance.

Section 11:

Final thoughts

The curriculum, assessment, and progression framework we have outlined here is intended as guidance. To be effective it will need to be tailored to suit local circumstances in your school. Musical assessment may be different from some other subjects, and it is important that whole school assessment systems recognise this. We hope that this framework offers sufficient flexibility for each school music department to be able to use it for their own ends. We also hope that whole school assessment policies recognise that music is a sonic art and that a spreadsheet, however good it may be, is no replacement for the sound of music!

The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) The Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) is the UK’s professional body for musicians and a nationally recognised subject association for music.Since 1882, we have been dedicated to promoting the importance of music and protecting the rights of those working in the music profession. We support over 9,000 members across the UK and Ireland with our unrivalled legal advice and representation, comprehensive insurance and specialist services.

Our members come from all areas of the music profession and from a wide variety of genres and musical backgrounds. As well as working musicians, our membership also includes recent graduates, part-time and full-time music students, and retired musicians.We campaign tirelessly in support of musicians’ rights, music education and the profession as a whole. We are a financially independent not-for-profit organisation with no political affiliation. This independence allows us the freedom to campaign on any issue affecting musicians.ism.org

The ISM Trust The ISM Trust, the Incorporated Society of Musicians’ (ISM) sister charity, was created in 2014 to advance education, the arts and to promote health. Our primary focus is to deliver high quality professional development by leading practitioners from the ISM and in partnership with other organisations.

We are dedicated to creating pioneering resources to support music and all those who work in the sector including music educators, performers, and composers. We deliver this work through webinars, regional seminars, training events and advice packs. ismtrust.org

References

Aykin, S. (2018) in Romer, C.

Ofsted culture lead: ‘I’ve not seen arts side-linedin schools’

Arts Professional Magazine

Bruner, J. (1960) The Process of Education Cambridge, Harvard University Press

Bruner, J. (1975) Entry into Early Language: A Spiral Curriculum Swansea, University College of Swansea

Charanga (2019) www.charanga.com

Daubney, A. & Fautley, M. (2015)

The National Curriculum for Music – An assessment and progression framework

London, The Incorporated Society of Musicians

Gibb. N. (2018) Robert Craft Tribute, Frank Bridge Book, James Gaffigan BBC Radio 3

Hinds, D. (2018) More support for school leaders to tackle workload www.gov.uk

Spielman, A. (2018) HMCI commentary: curriculum and the new education inspection framework

www.gov.uk

Spielman, A. (2018) Amanda Spielman launches Ofsted’s Annual Report 2017/18

www.gov.uk

Swanwick, K. (1988) Music, Mind, and Education London: Routledge

Swanwick, K. & Tillman, J. (1986)

The sequence of musical development: a study of children’s compositions

British Journal of Music Education 3, 3, 305-9

Thomas, R. B. (1970) MMCP Synthesis; a structure for music education Bardonia, NY, Media Materials, inc.

This guide provides teachers with easy to use, practical strategies to help students gain self-confidence and prepare effectively for upcoming performances – from their first performance to their one hundred and first.

Photo: Brian Slater

Performance anxiety: A practical guide for music teachers By Gregory Daubney CPsychol, MSc and Dr Alison Daubney

Supported by The ISM is

Teachers can visit the ISM Trust website at ismtrust.org/performance-anxiety-a-practical-guide-for-music-teachers to access this free resource.

If you are interested in purchasing a printed copy, please speak to ISM staff.